Local

Christopher Sardellicsardelli@thelancasternews.com
With two unanimous votes, Lancaster County Council moved another step toward bringing a new company to the county’s Air-Rail Industrial Park during a special meeting Friday, Dec. 14.
Council held the meeting to vote on second reading of two ordinances related to Project Brick, a company county officials have not yet identified.

Jesef Williamsjwilliams@thelancasternews.com
Lancaster City Council is in accord – to this point – with plans on an agreement that could provide significant tax relief for L&C Railroad in the near future.
After returning from a closed session during its Tuesday, Dec. 11, meeting, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to agree to the development of a joint industrial park between Lancaster and Chesterfield counties.

South Middle School is celebrating this week with the announcement that it has been named a School to Watch.
Overseen on the state level by the South Carolina Middle School Association, the School to Watch designation is an initiative of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform signifying the school’s success in pursuing academic excellence.

BELMONT, N.C. – Almost 10 months after a car chase ended with the deaths of a former Belmont, N.C., mayor and his girlfriend, a Lancaster man pleaded guilty to the crimes in a Gaston County courtroom last week.
Lester Saunders Norman Jr., 41, pleaded guilty to a long list of charges Tuesday, Dec. 4, in the deaths of former Belmont Mayor Kevin Loftin, 56, and Donna Jean Deitz, 60, said Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell. Norman entered the plea in Gaston Superior Court.

Much of the secrecy surrounding “Project Brick” has dissipated.
Ryan Wetherington, marketing director for Lancaster County Economic Development Corp., spoke at City Council’s Tuesday, Dec. 11, meeting about the company looking to locate in the planned industrial park off S.C. 9.
For a long time, the company – along with the involved negotiations – had been solely referred to as Project Brick.

Lancaster County Council laid the first few bricks this week in a joint effort to bring a new company to the reinvigorated Air-Rail Industrial Park.
During a series of meetings this week, council members voted on several motions, resolutions and ordinances related to restarting the process for the industrial park, while also laying the groundwork to allow a new company to set up shop there.
The name of the company, dubbed “Project Brick,” has not been formally announced by County Council.

Two Lancaster men are in trouble with the law in separate incidents last week after they allegedly assaulted their girlfriends in public.
The first incident occurred Dec. 3.
According to a Lancaster Police incident report, an officer responded to the intersection of Willowlake Road and Dunlap Street just after 11 p.m. Dec. 3, where he found a woman bleeding from what appeared to be an injury caused by “blunt force trauma” to the right eye.

A Lancaster man was arrested on firearms charges earlier this month as officers were on the hunt for a suspect in a separate case.
Tony Antron Cunningham, 32, 606 E. Gay St., was arrested Dec. 2 on charges of possession of a pistol by a restricted person, unlawful carrying of a pistol and no vehicle license, as well as two outstanding warrants, according to a Lancaster Police Department incident report.
Officers were patrolling the area of Thomas Lane and St. Paul Street at 12:38 a.m. when they saw a burgundy Honda Accord turn without using its turn signal.

An investigation into illegal night deer hunting by local and state authorities led to the arrests of three University of South Carolina Lancaster students Sunday, Dec. 9.
James Christopher Stewart, 18, Ryan Charles Manore, 19, and Blake George Shirley, 18, were all arrested on charges of illegal night deer hunting, first offense, according to Lancaster County Detention Center records.
USCL spokeswoman Shana Dry confirmed Thursday that all three teens are students at the university, and some are members of the USCL Lancers baseball team.

Two men are still on the run after leading police on a car chase that ended with a runaway car hitting a fence Nov. 30.
The chase began shortly after 9:22 p.m. Nov 30 when officers responded to Pardue Street Apartments about someone reportedly pointing a gun at a resident earlier that night, according to a Lancaster Police Department incident report.